Ex-employee of Russian presidential administration may be involved in the pilot’s capture

Defense team of Ukrainian MP and fighter pilot Nadia Savchenko released new evidence that prove her innocence. At a session of city court in Donetsk, Rostov region, Russia, the lawyers presented phone call interceptions provided by the SBU (Ukraine’s Security Service).

One of the phone calls is a conversation between leader of the so-called LPR Ihor Plotnitsky and a LPR militant Sergei. As the fighter reported to his commander that “a sniper was detained”, referring to Savchenko, it was 10.46 a.m on June 17, 2014. The defense team says that due to this circumstance, the pilot had nothing to do with the murder of two Russian journalists in Luhansk region on the same day, since the time of their death was about 11.40, when Savchenko was already captured.

The lawyers released several more relevant audio tapes, including the one presumably with the voice of Pavel Karpov, Russian political strategist and ex-worker of Russia’s presidential administration. He contacted the-then leader of the so-called LPR Valeriy Bolotov, requesting information about the detained Ukrainian pilot.

Most recently, February 1, the court in Donetsk city refused to summon Karpov and ex-LPR leader Valeriy Bolotov for questioning.

In mid-December 2015, Russian court ruled that the pilot stays in detention until April 2016. Protesting against that, she went on a hunger strike – the third one since the moment of her arrest by pro-Russia militants in summer 2014. The pilot’s been on hunger strike for more than 40 days so far.

Nadia Savchenko, MP and former Ukraine’s Air Force officer, was captured by pro-Russian militants in eastern Ukraine in summer 2014. She says they captured her, forcefully brought her to Russia and passed her to Russian investigative authorities. Savchenko is charged with murder of two Russian reporters who worked in eastern Ukraine without any permission of the Ukrainian government. She is also charged with the illegal crossing of the Russian border. The pilot, her defense team and the Ukrainian government deny all charges, demanding to release her.